Wills and Kate to wed live on YouTube

Those of you hoping to escape the forthcoming nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton had better stick YouTube on your list of proscribed media, because the 29 April wedding will be streamed live on The Royal Channel.

According to St James's Palace, you'll need to switch off your PC and hide in a darkened room between 10am and 2pm on the big day, as the BBC's live feed is slurped and enhanced with added "historical information, interesting links, additional photographs and video footage".

A St James's Palace spokeslackey declared: "This will be the first time a live blog has run alongside a live stream on YouTube for any occasion. For example, as the carriage procession passes Clarence House, a link will appear which provides historical information on Clarence House."

The said Clarence House will be twittering away merrily on the day, and fans of the Widdletons can send their 140-character congrats using the hashtag #rw2011, according to officials.

For even more Windsor 2.0 goodness, try the official Royal Wedding™ website, which says that the monarchy's Facebook presence is inviting the unwashed masses to "become part of a community of... users celebrating the wedding across the world".

Naturally, snaps of the celebrity hitching will land on Flickr in due course, offering a nice online complement to the planned 180-page Daily Mail special.

All in all, it looks like Wills and Kate have got it covered. St James's Palace said: "Prince William and Catherine Middleton are like any other people their age in respect of social media. They are Facebook users and YouTube users, and their intention has always been that their wedding should be accessible to everyone."

One person we suspect won't be accessing the Web 2.0 onslaught is the Bishop of Willesden, who previously threatened to escape to Calais for the duration.

He summarised on Facebook: "I managed to avoid the last disaster in slow motion between Big Ears and the Porcelain Doll, and I hope to avoid this one too." ®